How to ask for a pay rise –
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Introduction 👋
In an ideal world, you would get paid the right amount of money all the time.
But sadly, this doesn’t happen! ☹️
These days, you need to ask for the pay you want. 🙏
Otherwise, you probably won’t get it!
Today we’re going to explain how to ask for a pay rise!💸
1. Research, research, research 🕵️♀️
Unless you have a really nice boss, you’re probably not going to get a pay rise just because you ask for one.
Instead, you need to bring some facts to the table, to justify your pay rise! 🤓
Doing research can help you to:
- decide how much money is reasonable to ask for 🤷♀️
- collect evidence for why you deserve a pay rise! 🔎
Check salary data online 💻
It’s important to find out how much other people are getting paid, so you know what is reasonable to ask for!
You can use things like:
to get a really good understanding of what other people are getting paid for doing the same job as you.
Remember to consider:
- What people in your local area are getting paid (sometimes people living far away will get paid more or less than you) 🗺️
- Your skills and how much you could get paid for them 🛠️
- Your job title and how much people get paid for it 👩💼
Ask the experts 🎤
If you know any experts in your area of work, why not send your job description to them?
Ask them what they’d pay for someone with those skills!
2. Build up a case 📝
Next, you need to demonstrate how valuable you are to your workplace.
(If you have a wall of wins, you can use it to help you!)
Achievements – what cool stuff have you done? ✨
Have you:
- Helped them save money? 💰
- Earned money for them?
- Helped them save time? ⌚
- Worked on cool/important projects for them?
- Gone above and beyond your job description? (If you have access to other job descriptions, highlight the parts you’ve been doing!) 🚀
- Supported/managed people in the team?
- Helped others to be successful? 🤝
Tips! 📝
- Be as specific as possible with these examples. E.g. When did you save them money? How much did you save? ✅
- Use numbers! – Using numbers can make your achievements sound more impressive and memorable. E.g. rather than “I made it quicker to send emails, you could say, I increased efficiency for sending emails by 50%“.💃🕺✅
Your skills – why are you amazing? 💃🕺
- What can’t they lose from you?
- What do they always rely on you for?
- How are you different from everyone else in your team?
- Why would they struggle to replace you?
- Do you have training or qualifications that nobody else holds?
- What are you uniquely good at?
- Do you have a really good reputation/lots of professional followers?
- Are other people trying to hire you?
- What skills have you got, that they really value?
- Why would they miss you, if you quit? 💔
Important evidence to collect 🕵️♀️📜
You can collect things like:
- Feedback emails from people! – Your colleagues, your boss, your customers etc.
- Certificates – have all of your relevant training and qualifications ready!
- A summary of your achievements and the value you bring
- Salary data for your job, skills etc.
- A summary of your past performance reviews
3. Prepare for the conversation 🙊
Now you’ve got your “business case” ready to explain why you deserve a pay rise, it’s time to get ready for the conversation!
Decide what you want to ask for 💰
It’s very common for bosses to wait until the second meeting to discuss new salary amounts…
BUT
you should always be prepared in case they ask!
It’s good to ask for an amount that is slightly higher than what you’d expect to get – but don’t make it unreasonable!!
Pick the right time ⌚
Timing can be really important when making requests at work.
Some good times to ask about pay rises might include:
- During “performance reviews”, where it’s natural to talk about your achievements.
- On days where your manager isn’t too busy.
- After lunch (after the morning stress, before the afternoon begins).
- On days where you or your manager don’t have big deadlines/stressful targets to reach.
- When your manager has at least half an hour of free time for you to book.
- After you’ve achieved something really impressive.
- When your manager is about to start any type of “financial review” for the team – (they’re already looking at the money, so why not include looking at your pay?)
What to say 🔊
Talk about the positives ☀️
For example –
“Thank you for making the time to see me today.
As you know, I’ve been working here for [insert amount of time] and have recently been focused on [insert brief description of what you’ve been working on].
I am proud of the role I have played in this organisation and have really enjoyed being part of the team.”
Talk about your achievements 🏆
For example –
“Over the past 12 months I feel like I have provided a lot of benefit the organisation, such as:
- [talk
- about
- your
- achievements].”
Ask! 🙏
For example –
“Bearing in mind the benefits I’ve brought to the organisation recently and over the past 12 months, I’d appreciate it if you would consider a review of my current salary.
I’ve had a look at current compensation levels for roles similar to mine in organisations of the same size. I believe I’ve got a good view of the industry standard salary and would like to look at ways that we could align my salary towards it.”
Don’t feel guilty or greedy! 🐷
You deserve to be paid fairly.
A lot of people get told growing up to avoid talking about money, because it could make you appear rude or greedy.
This is totally wrong!
Talking and learning about money makes you sensible – it helps you to look after yourself and others.
Organisations are constantly talking about money too – they have to do financial reporting all the time! 📈
If they can talk about money all the time, you can talk to them about money too!
Shout it back to me – “I deserve to be paid fairly!” ✊
Remember, negotiating a pay rise isn’t an argument 🥊
Making sure that you get paid fairly isn’t an argument, it’s a problem to solve! 🤝
You’re on the same team and can collaborate to reach an agreement.
Think about it – your employer will want you to:
- be happy at work, so that you’re more productive 🛠️
- stay at your workplace instead of quitting (hiring and training people is a lot of time, money and effort!) 🏡
- keep delivering all of the amazing and impressive things you’re already doing!
- help with their work instead of leaving to work at a competitor 🤺
If they can comfortably work out an agreement for you to stay and get paid a bit more, they probably will!
Don’t assume they know it all already! 🥴
People have their own lives, and their own problems.
Your manager has probably forgotten a lot of what you’ve contributed at work! – Particularly if they are responsible for a lot of people.
Don’t assume they know how great you are already!
Don’t be afraid to present all of the ways you add value from a fresh conversation, and remind them how amazing you are! 💃🕺
Write notes on what you want to say 📝
Writing notes can help you to remember the main points you want to get across to your manager.
Practice! 🔁
It could help to build your confidence by practicing what you want to say beforehand!
Remember – the more times you have these conversations throughout your career – the better you’ll get at them!
4. Start the conversation 🎤
Dress the part 👔
You want to be taken seriously, so dress to impress!
Make sure that you’re clean and well-presented.
How to make a good first impression 👋
Be professional! 🤝
Make sure that no matter what they say, you act as professionally as you can throughout the conversation.
This could include:
- Using confident body language e.g. don’t fidget!
- Making eye contact
- Speaking slowly and confidently
- Trying to avoid getting emotional or angry
Next steps 👣
You probably won’t get an answer straight away!
Once you’ve had the conversation, it’s likely that your manager will need to take some time to think about your request.
They will probably also need to speak to other managers, and get approval for a pay rise. ✅
It’s a good idea to email your manager after the meeting to thank them for their time, and to briefly summarise what you discussed.
5. What if they say no? 😟
Be proud for trying 🏆
Firstly, the fact that you’ve taken the step to be brave and ask for pay in a carefully considered way is successful.
If your employer says no, don’t let them make you feel like you were wrong for asking!
Alternative options 🤷♀️
If they say no to a pay rise, there are alternative work perks you could consider asking for.
Some of these work perks might even be worth more than a pay rise! 💸
This could include things like training/help towards professional qualifications, bonuses, flexible hours… the list goes on!
Check out our list of work perks here –
21 extra job perks you can get (that aren’t pay!) 🎉
Consider quitting 🚪🏃♀️💨
If you’ve presented a really well-reasoned argument, but your employer doesn’t want to give you a pay rise (or any alternative rewards/perks), it might be worth considering moving on.
See if there are any alternative, higher paying jobs out there for you to apply for instead!
It can be really tricky getting a pay rise approved at a job you’re already working in – quite often people increase their pay by moving to different jobs/organisations instead! 💼
Conclusion 👍
So that’s it!
You can ask for a pay rise by following these steps:
- Research, research, research 🕵️♀️
- Build up a case 📝
- Prepare for the conversation 🙊
- Start the conversation 🎤
- Be prepared if they say no 🤷♀️
If you know any friends or family members who might benefit from learning about how to ask for a pay rise, share this post with them!
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